Just twelve days after announcing he was “stepping aside” from The Bachelor over racially insensitive remarks, Chris Harrison appeared on Thursday’s Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. The longtime Bachelor franchise host attended the game show taping in December to raise money for Feeding America.
Harrison is being scrutinized for an interview he did with Extra reporter Rachel Lindsay, who was the first Black lead in the Bachelor franchise. He was accused of defending historical racism after dismissing a plantation-themed party that Rachael Kirkconnell, a Bachelor contestant from the current season, attended in 2018.
“It’s not a good look ever because she’s celebrating the Old South,” Lindsay explained. “If I went to that party, what would I represent at that party?”
“I don’t disagree with you,” Harrison said. “You’re 100 percent right — in 2021. That was not the case in 2018. Again, I’m not defending Rachael. I just know, I don’t know, 50 million people did that in 2018 — that was a type of party that a lot of people went to.”’
While Harrison issued an apology and announced he was temporarily stepping away from the franchise, some viewers are upset that he would appear on the same network so soon. Several viewers to Twitter voice their disappointment and to mock the network.
While Harrison’s appearance on the show upset some viewers, he did raise a lot of money for Feeding America. He was the most successful celebrity in the episode, raising $62,650 for a good cause.
